There is a need for a safe, stable vehicle for transporting passengers and cargo rapidly in areas which are generally accessible only by boats or perhaps by helicopters at very great expense. Many maritime areas, such as, for example, the Caribbean, need vehicles which can provide swift transportation, yet require minimal docking and service facilities at accessed locations. Airports are frequently expensive to safely and adequately maintain and necessarily require a network of connecting roads to be useful. Accordingly, the instant invention provides a new and improved vehicle for meeting these needs.
The prior art includes a number of devices such as ground effect machines and air-supported vehicles. Such devices are exemplified by U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,170,530; 2,209,848; 3,174,573; and 3,611,980. However, these devices carry relatively light loads and are not suitable for mass transport of cargo and passengers. Larger vehicles of this type are exemplified by the machines of U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,397 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,022. However, each of these machines has a power source for vertical support which is centrally located within the vehicle, as opposed to being distributed adjacent the periphery of the fuselage of the vehicle.